His exclusion from the Duleep Trophy quarter-final created a flutter but North Zone’s stodgy left-handed opener Sanat Sangwan put the controversies to rest with a gutsy 76 even though South Zone looked poised to win the Duleep Trophy semi-final by the end of third day’s play here Tuesday. On the third morning, skipper Tilak Varma (116 not out) added 10 more runs to his overnight score and added a precious 42 runs for the final wicket with Kavuri Saiteja (12) to reach a decent first innings score of 312 and a handy lead of 117 runs.
His exclusion from the Duleep Trophy quarter-final created a flutter but North Zone’s stodgy left-handed opener Sanat Sangwan put the controversies to rest with a gutsy 76 even though South Zone looked poised to win the Duleep Trophy semi-final
The lead, however, is of only 139 runs as of now and to make a match of it, North will need to set a target of at least 200 runs and then expect to take 10 South Zone wickets in roughly two sessions. North Zone could have scored a few more runs but there was a batting collapse as they slumped from a comfortable 175 for 2 to 209 for 7 in less than 10 overs. They lost five wickets for the addition of 34 runs in that period.
In reply, North Zone finished the day at 256 for 7, largely due to Sangwan’s 148-ball effort that had eight boundaries and a 104-run second wicket stand with Delhi teammate Ayush Doseja , who helped himself to his second half-century in the tournament. The day, however, belonged to Sangwan, who was ignored by North Zone coaches Ajay Sharma and Sarandeep Singh , who decided to play Yash Dhull in an unfamiliar opening position based on his T20 form in the Delhi Premier League.
